The present invention relates to security documents, e.g., credit cards, identification badges and the like and, more particularly, to the use of pearlescent and other materials, such as, ultra violet sensitive, or infrared sensitive elements with the pearlescent, in a predetermined design which can be read only under specified conditions and are extremely difficult to replicate, thereby creating a reliably secure instrument.
As the world moves relentlessly toward a cashless society, the venerable credit card has become a staple. So, too, in the corporate arena, where secret modes or methods are closely guarded and industrial espionage is seemingly on the rise, the ability to identify authorized personnel and distinguish them from interlopers has become an art form.
The foregoing examples are but two among a myriad of circumstances which call for the implementation of a system of secure identification by means of cards and badges. Drivers licenses, which are no longer simply evidence of payment of a fee, but have become a primary means of personal identification, are yet another category of use for secure instruments. The credit card issuers seem to be in competition to create the most decorative, yet secure instruments, and consumers seem to be attracted to issuers who provide more than just low introductory interest. The security instrument industry seems to have taken on a life of its own and considerable research is being conducted into ways of producing an aesthetically pleasing identification card, or badge, which is incapable of being counterfeited and will destruct upon attempted alteration. The counterfeiting of identification documents involving as it does the alteration, fabrication, issuance and ultimately, use of such cards by persons not authorized to do so presents continual, and multiple security problems for legitimate issuers.
Perhaps the most effective, yet impractical, way to prevent counterfeiting would involve strict control over the possession of the materials and equipment involved in the fabrication of identification documents. For example, too many of the materials involved are commercially available and used in other, less sensitive, applications. To date, the more popular response to the counterfeiting problem involves the integration of several verification features to evidence authenticity. The best known of these xe2x80x9cverification featuresxe2x80x9d involve signatures such as the signature of the one authorized to issue the document, or the signature of the bearer. Other popular verification features have involved the use of watermarks, fluorescent materials, validation patterns or markings and polarizing stripes. These verification features and perhaps others, are integrated in various ways and may provide visual verification, or in some instances, invisible evidence of authenticity, in the finished card. If invisible, of course, authenticity is verifiable by viewing the instrument under conditions that render the invisible feature, visible.
The present invention is operative within this broad field, to teach a novel printing process using multiple colors to provide an interlocking design which is capable of producing an optically variable visual image, resulting in an instrument with enhanced security.
From a meager beginning with a card having minimal identifying information imprinted on it, identification documents have progressed to ones which include a picture of the authorized person, such as, e.g., Andrews U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,501, wherein a photograph is laminated into a card having printed information accompanying the photograph. A later issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,618, discloses the kind of sheet material that might be used in such a laminate. Magnetic coding may also be added to the card as taught in Andrews et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,949,501. In Plasse U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,677, a layer of material is added to the laminate upon which an insignia is embossed.
Expanding on the concept of embossing an insignia into the identification card and as a means of making duplication and/or alteration more difficult, use of a hologram became an option. Mailloux et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,047 is representative.
In instances where security is a principal objective and counterfeiting of security documents provides a perceptible advantage to the counterfeiter and is, therefore, likely to occur, the use of holograms has become an effective means of thwarting counterfeiting efforts. Benton et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,415,225 teaches at least one means of creating a holographic image. The hologram, by virtue of its capacity to convey varying visual imagery as the hologram is observed from various positions, makes the overall effect very difficult to replicate and, thus, rather ideal as an anti counterfeiting device. The process of creating holographic images is somewhat complex and requires equipment that is not readily available at one""s office supply store. Research is ongoing, therefore, to find a way of creating a holographic effect without the necessity of forming a holographic image.
All of the verification features discussed above have achieved a measure of success in preventing or discouraging counterfeiting. Duplication of these feature(s), either singularly, or in combination, typically presents a sufficient obstacle of sufficient difficulty to discourage the average would-be-counterfeiter. However, to the ingenious and/or particularly motivated, at least some features are considered to be merely a challenge, thus creating a continuing need for more and better solutions. The present invention is addressed to that need.
With the foregoing as a basis for establishing the environment within which the present invention has particular, although not exclusive, utility, and incorporates, in a single security instrument, multiple pearlescent colors in an interlocking design producing an optical variable visual effect, that provides a novel verification feature which more closely approaches an idealized performance characteristic which is the goal of all such features.
It is, accordingly, an objective of the present invention to provide a security document which embodies many of the salutary security benefits of a holographic image without actually creating such an image. An objective closely related to the foregoing is to teach a method of creating such a security document.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide the industry with a security instrument in the form of a card, or badge, which includes an iridescence, which when viewed in various lights at various tilts and angles, gives an optically variable appearance which, when done rapidly, creates a sense of movement and is, thus, difficult in the extreme to reproduce.
A further objective of the present invention is to create a security instrument, having at least one design depicted in an iridescent color and which has a laminated structure in which various pearlescents are employed to create a design which, when viewed from different angles, may create uniquely individual two or three dimensional visual impression, which readily identifies the carrier and which is very difficult to replicate.
Another, and still further objective is to provide one or more pearlescent materials in which an additional material is capable of being added, which additional material is invisible to the naked eye, yet visible under specialized conditions, thereby providing yet another, and higher level of security.
The foregoing, as well as other objects and advantages of the present invention, will become apparent from a reading of the Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment, taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein: